- Mon, 2011-04-11 11:56
An ever popular alternative to the b-side, many a single now comes complete with a handful of remixes to ensure that it is an unmissable addition to the fan’s collection. It’s a great idea, but in reality very few people want to sit through the same song for four plays in a row, even if it is a little different each time around, and the remixes will be demoted to a curiosity that periodically pops up on shuffle.
Every now and again, however, there’s a wee gem hiding in amongst those remixes that instantly finds itself on your most-played list and establishes itself as a regular tipple. Metronomy are particularly reliable when it comes to supplying such delights, both as remixee and remixer. Here are just a few of their finest…
Metronomy – The Look (Fred Falke Remix)
The Frenchman takes Metronomy’s latest single and stretches it over seven minutes, inserting swirling synths and four-four beats as only a house producer from L’Hexagone could. This is meant to be played very loudly, preferably whilst driving at full-tilt down a sun-drenched road with the people that you love.
Metronomy – Radio Ladio (Micachu Remix)
Metronomy score pretty well on the eccentricity stakes, but one artist that beats them hands down is Mica Levi, a.k.a. Micachu. She seems to approach music from a completely different angle from anyone else (her debut album included one particularly brilliant song played on a vacuum cleaner), and her treatment of Radio Ladio leaves it wheezing like a clock that’s had an intimate encounter with a hammer. But in a good way.
Metronomy – Heartbreaker (diskJokke Remix)
There are a lot of words that can be used to describe Metronomy’s music, but nightmarish is not one of them. In the hands of Norway’s diskJokke, however, Heartbreaker morphs from a kindly “we’re in this together pal” to eight minutes of sparse dub soundscapes that leave you with no doubt that life from now on will consist of nothing but loneliness and abandonment.
Lykke Li – I’m Good I’m Gone (Metronomy Remix)
In Metronomy’s hands the Swede’s delicately angular pop song becomes a glittering, spacey groove. The fundamental mood of the track is preserved, but underpinned by a ringing phone and surrounded by aloof percussion and a skeletal synth-line Lykke Li’s vocals take on a certain steely determination.
Gorillaz – El Manana (Metronomy Remix)
On the original of El Manana Albarn’s vocals, surrounded by a softly strummed guitar and gentle strings, are imbued with a fragile melancholy. Transposed into a landscape of sharp, lurching synths and placed on the offbeat, in Metronomy’s remix the lyric “I lost my mind” seems all too accurate, and the central phrase “in time you’ll want to be mine” becomes a muttered threat.
Diplo – Newsflash (Metronomy Remix)
On Newsflash, Diplo’s fusion of 8-bit, dancehall and kuduro is pure dancefloor fire, a relentless demand that you pop until you drop. When Metronomy have their wicked way with it, however, it veers between Venetian Snares-style breaks and a deep, mid-paced groove draped in parping fanfares. You’ll still want to move your body to it, but you won’t have a clue where to start.
